Can zoos help to protect endangered species?

Nowadays there is a lot of controversy in whether animals should be kept in zoos, in particular those which are in danger of extinction. Whereas some people defend the zoos as a place for protecting them, others think it's a way of cutting down their rights, such as freedom.

On the one hand, zoos can help animals to reproduce safely and consequently, they increase the number of these animals over the world. For instance, pandas have successfully reproduced in zoos worldwide. Not only are they aided in reproduction, they are also protected from their threatening predators. In addition, a lot of species have been saved by zoologists, whereas if we didn't have zoos, a lot of species would disappear.

On the other hand, endangered species are kept in artificial environments and, what is more, in cages. Some people think that animals have the same rights as people, nevertheless, what we do is to cage them as if we were superior to them and we had the right of putting them in cages. Furthermore, despite the fact that we know animals don't like being caged, we keep doing it only because we want our children to look at them.

In my opinion, the best way to preserve animals in danger would be to provide them a place to live such as a wildlife park, where zoologists would help these species while they would live in a non-artificial habitat.